An open letter to those that are better.

  • Thread starter jrbabbitt
  • 134 comments
  • 8,800 views
I've seen this quite a few times from streamers/top split guys doing last to first stuff, usually on their 2nd account and its always really annoyed me. So i get where your coming from. But .....a few times earlier on tonight i pitted early in Race C and ended up behind drivers lower ranked than me...caught them up, so what what should they do ? Maybe move aside and let me past ?, yeah maybe as it will save them time, but they might not be aware I'm faster (on fresher tires etc ).....But ultimately they don't have to as it's a race...
A lot of the faster drivers just kinda assume that everyone is well versed in race craft (letting faster drivers past you etc ), but when i was lower rated i had no idea of this concept, i just wanted to race and finish as high as possible, i had no idea who was on better tires etc
I will try to defend against players trying to overtake me. I try to keep an eye on how quick they are. If they are really faster than me (more than half a sec per lap) I will not obstruct, though. One place in the ranking is not worth being a jerk on the track.
 
I've seen this quite a few times from streamers/top split guys doing last to first stuff, usually on their 2nd account and its always really annoyed me. So i get where your coming from. But .....a few times earlier on tonight i pitted early in Race C and ended up behind drivers lower ranked than me...caught them up, so what what should they do ? Maybe move aside and let me past ?, yeah maybe as it will save them time, but they might not be aware I'm faster (on fresher tires etc ).....But ultimately they don't have to as it's a race...
A lot of the faster drivers just kinda assume that everyone is well versed in race craft (letting faster drivers past you etc ), but when i was lower rated i had no idea of this concept, i just wanted to race and finish as high as possible, i had no idea who was on better tires etc
I don’t have an issue with the faster people starting at the back and racing through as long as they do it fairly and cleanly.
As for the live streamers what does annoy me is when they start laughing or making fun when they pass people the slower drivers. I was in a race with one of the YTers a while back and I happen to be watching too. The YT was behind me and as they passed me they reckoned he got past me due to his fake move when that didn’t happen at all. They only got pass as I missed my braking point by a few meters and I wasn’t even aware of this “fake move“ they did as I wasn’t looking in my mirrors as they were over half a second behind me.

I will try to defend against players trying to overtake me. I try to keep an eye on how quick they are. If they are really faster than me (more than half a sec per lap) I will not obstruct, though. One place in the ranking is not worth being a jerk on the track.
Agree. Its all about knowing who to fight. if a car is gaining a lot on you it’s not worth the fight, but when they only gain a few tenths I’ll make it as difficult for them as possible but still race my lines and hit my average lap times.
 
Cultures are different in different games. In GT it's quite aggressive, for several reasons, at all levels.

In RaceRoom the players are older and more serious, and take pride in racing clean and fair.
Also, you don't have to be aggressive to overtake. The handling is much more dynamic so just sit behind and wait for a small mistake from the driver ahead. If you're faster, you'll pass him within a a lap or two. If not, just stay put and don't kill yourself or anyone else.

The penalty system PD has is worse than nothing. People always try to skillfully punt without getting a penalty - that's a "win"! It's like a game in the game.
In RaceRoom, it's more simple - no contact or else both gets penalized. This leads to nobody wanting any contact.
Just to chime in on the penalties... GT Sport did strong penalties with zero tolerance on contact for a short time. Lobbies cleaned up a ton but then everyone and his dog were complaining of sterile races and people to "scared" to overtake. That showed to me the complete lack of race craft and racing knowledge from a vast majority. Then came the "rubbing is racing" and "if you don't go for a gap you're not a racing driver" quotes and we end up back at square 1. Penalties will never ever be right. Make it zero contact and any contact incurs a penalty for both.

I loved the harsh penalties tbh.
 
You addressed the letter to "those that are better" when this is is quite blatantly incorrect.
If you had noticed I put the word better in quotes as to signify Sarcasm...
I have stopped racing online for this exact reason and do not see PD rectifying it any time or any game version for that matter in the near future.
This statement makes this whole post of yours irrelevant, if you do not race online anymore then your opinions here do not hold water...
The next point I want to dress in your letter is, are you complaining about being lapped, in which case it is your responsibility to get out of their way or about being caught up to?
No, not complaining about being lapped (which does not happen) but if I am defending MY line and it is NOT my responsibility to get out of the way just because that "they" think they are better.
 
This statement makes this whole post of yours irrelevant, if you do not race online anymore then your opinions here do not hold water...
Mmmmmm....... I see where the problem is now. You appear to be just as inconsiderate as those you complain about. It is interesting that you think that someone that has "retired" from doing something now has a worthless opinion. So is your judgement solely aimed at me or does it universally apply to anyone that has ceased a particular activity? Don't answer, it's a rhetorical question, I am sure I already know the answer ;-)
 
A lot of the faster drivers just kinda assume that everyone is well versed in race craft (letting faster drivers past you etc ), but when i was lower rated i had no idea of this concept, i just wanted to race and finish as high as possible, i had no idea who was on better tires etc
It would be helpful if the game showed you what tyres everyone is on (all the time, not just for a split second as they leave the pits). I have guys coming up behind me mid race, I don't know if we're on the same strategy.
 
I am sick and tired of this behavior, I enjoy the daily races I try to have fun with them, I do try to raise clean and when I do not I back off, apologize, and try to resume the race as best I can, others I've seen just barge their way through not caring about ruining other people's enjoyment and experience in racing. This has got to stop, please.
This is a fundamental problem with a computer game relying on "sportsmanship", trying to translate a real world activity that has humans enforcing rules (and even then there are problems with ambiguities and controversial rulings), to a game that doesn't have the same level of enforcement. Until someone manages to develop an automated rule enforcement system that actually works, I don't bother with the pvp competitive aspect of these games, and get that from playing other games that are designed as computer games from the start and don't depend on any notions of "sportsmanship", you're allowed to do anything the game lets you do. It's the only viable model for a computer game that has hundreds of thousands or even millions of concurrent players competing against each other, the game must enforce everything that is desired to be enforced.
 
There's too many factors in online racing to just blame it on faster racers acting "privileged". More times than not you get the entitled slow guy "holding his line and defending his position" when he's 3 seconds slower per lap. Most of the races are 5-8 minutes long. You have to make bold decisions sometimes when you're being blocked. Not to mention the single player experience forces you to drive aggressively because you start at the back every race. Then factor in latency. Some people don't know they ran people off the road because their internet connection speed is from 1998. I give slower drivers 3-4 corners before I start driving heavily aggressive. If you have someone on your bumper for longer than that, and you are clearly slower, you deserve to be put in the dirt.
 
I give slower drivers 3-4 corners before I start driving heavily aggressive. If you have someone on your bumper for longer than that, and you are clearly slower, you deserve to be put in the dirt.
No one 'deserves' to be put into the dirt, unless they are being dirty. Properly defending isn't dirty, it's racing.

If you can't or won't pass a 'clearly slower' driver cleanly, maybe you're not as fast as you think you are. Either way, running someone off the road for legitimate defending is called dirty driving, and should be punished harshly.
 
There's too many factors in online racing to just blame it on faster racers acting "privileged". More times than not you get the entitled slow guy "holding his line and defending his position" when he's 3 seconds slower per lap. Most of the races are 5-8 minutes long. You have to make bold decisions sometimes when you're being blocked. Not to mention the single player experience forces you to drive aggressively because you start at the back every race. Then factor in latency. Some people don't know they ran people off the road because their internet connection speed is from 1998. I give slower drivers 3-4 corners before I start driving heavily aggressive. If you have someone on your bumper for longer than that, and you are clearly slower, you deserve to be put in the dirt.
If you're 3 seconds a lap faster than someone, you really should be able to make a clean pass without putting anyone in the dirt. If you can't, you're definitely the problem.
 
There's too many factors in online racing to just blame it on faster racers acting "privileged". More times than not you get the entitled slow guy "holding his line and defending his position" when he's 3 seconds slower per lap. Most of the races are 5-8 minutes long. You have to make bold decisions sometimes when you're being blocked. Not to mention the single player experience forces you to drive aggressively because you start at the back every race. Then factor in latency. Some people don't know they ran people off the road because their internet connection speed is from 1998. I give slower drivers 3-4 corners before I start driving heavily aggressive. If you have someone on your bumper for longer than that, and you are clearly slower, you deserve to be put in the dirt.
If there's only 5 minutes left in the race who in their right state of mind would move over for a faster driver? Not fighting faster drivers only makes sense while thinking about the long run, and with only a few laps left there is no long run to think about, you're fighting for position at that point.
 
No one 'deserves' to be put into the dirt, unless they are being dirty. Properly defending isn't dirty, it's racing.

If you can't or won't pass a 'clearly slower' driver cleanly, maybe you're not as fast as you think you are. Either way, running someone off the road for legitimate defending is called dirty driving, and should be punished harshly.
I disagree. There are too many inexperienced racers that drive in the middle of the track, and purposely block other racers from passing. What are you supposed to do in that situation? I am fully aware of my surroundings when I'm on the track and give faster racers the pass when I know I'm slower. Like I said earlier. If I'm on your bumper for multiple turns, and you can't acknowledge that I'm behind you, and your driving in the middle of the track, I'm going to drive aggressive to make my point.

If there's only 5 minutes left in the race who in their right state of mind would move over for a faster driver? Not fighting faster drivers only makes sense while thinking about the long run, and with only a few laps left there is no long run to think about, you're fighting for position at that point.
I said the races themselves are only 5-8 minutes long. Meaning you only have that amount of time total.
 
I disagree. There are too many inexperienced racers that drive in the middle of the track, and purposely block other racers from passing. What are you supposed to do in that situation? I am fully aware of my surroundings when I'm on the track and give faster racers the pass when I know I'm slower. Like I said earlier. If I'm on your bumper for multiple turns, and you can't acknowledge that I'm behind you, and your driving in the middle of the track, I'm going to drive aggressive to make my point.
Driving aggressively is fine, saying they deserve to be put in the dirt is not. That's just being a dick.
 
If you're 3 seconds a lap faster than someone, you really should be able to make a clean pass without putting anyone in the dirt. If you can't, you're definitely the problem.
I said you deserve to be put in the dirt. I didn't say I run people off the track. My DR and SR is good but I'm not going to say that faster drivers are always at fault when slower drivers don't know what they are doing.
 
IMHO, There's a lot of assumptions about others and maybe, just maybe, not enough real world experience of racing and other sports.

Competition is going to cause people to compete. That might seem obvious, but maybe it needs to be stated. During that competition, there may of not be the presence of good choices, nor may there be the presence of the skill/talent required to pull off what is being attempted.

In the real world, I've had contact from others on track. Lucky, it's motorcycles, so it's nothing a zip tie can't fix for the most part. However, the last one sent me to the hospital with a concussion and full body bruising. This was a track day, not even a competition!!! I play soccer, same thing happens there, and it's a "masters" league so people should know better. Still, stupid moves are attempted and sometimes people get hurt. I kickbox, and sparring can get "heated" when it's supposed to be light. The rule there is that you spar to your partner's level, so if they jack the intensity, you can jack it right back. That usually resolves the problem.

Point being, competition bring out the competitor.


Senna and Prost used to "spoil the fun" for each other quite often.
 
Last edited:
I guess your point is to show you're dirty when you can't cleanly pass a slower car? Give me a break, man.
Why are you assuming I can't pass clean? I said I drive aggressively when I can't make a clean pass due to someone driving in the middle of the track. From my experience, it's a better way to handle the situation. 9 times out of 10, when I make a clean pass on a driver like that, the person just takes me out the next turn out of frustration. Riding someone's bumper until they make a mistake is more effective because they usually don't have the time to retaliate the next turn.

Driving aggressively is fine, saying they deserve to be put in the dirt is not. That's just being a dick.
We're obviously not playing the same game then. I would say a very large percentage of Sport players deserve to be stuffed into the wall for not racing fair and treating other drivers (faster or slower) with respect. You guys think that every race is all sunshine and rainbows. SMH...
 
Stakes are generally higher irl. Most wouldn't fly into bends or smash others out tge way as outcome of doing this regularly would be expensive in terms of damage to people, cars or quickly being ban from the competition.

Online you cam do pretty much whatever you want and worse that'll happen is finishing further down the field and losing some driver/safety points (in gt7).
 
We're obviously not playing the same game then. I would say a very large percentage of Sport players deserve to be stuffed into the wall for not racing fair and treating other drivers (faster or slower) with respect. You guys think that every race is all sunshine and rainbows. SMH...
:confused: I'm not sure how that reply relates to what I said. I don't think anything of the sort, and yes some probably do deserve a bit of grief, but I still won't resort to their level.

You said you drive aggressively to people who are slower and block and I agreed that it's fine, that's just part of racing. Hard racing can also be fair racing, be it defending or attacking, but saying they deserve to be put in the dirt for also driving aggressively, something that you said you also do is just being a dick.
 
Last edited:
Senna and Prost used to "spoil the fun" for each other quite often.
That's 2 fast and experienced drivers just trying to win. The OP is stating that fast drivers act "privileged", and called them "better" because he got pushed aside or off track. There's no proof those people were faster. It just sounds like your typical Sport mode idiots of the day. In my experience with Sport mode, the slower and less experienced drivers are the ones causing most of the accidents.
 
We're obviously not playing the same game then. I would say a very large percentage of Sport players deserve to be stuffed into the wall for not racing fair and treating other drivers (faster or slower) with respect. You guys think that every race is all sunshine and rainbows. SMH...
I'm not sure we are playing the same game as it sounds like you're playing Wreckfest rather than GT7.

I'd be really interested in seeing some replays of your races where these incidents keep happening. What you're experiencing in sport Mode is definitely not what I'm experiencing.
 
Last edited:
:confused: I'm not sure how that reply relates to what I said. I don't think anything of the sort, and yes some do deserve grief, but I still won't resort to their level.

You said you drive aggressively to people who are slower and block and I agreed that it's fine, that's just part of racing. Hard racing can also be fair racing, be it defending or attacking, but saying they deserve to be put in the dirt for also driving aggressively, something that you said you also do is just being a dick.
So let me get this straight. It's ok for someone to drive in the middle of the track, and run someone off the track if they are about to get passed? That's why I put the "holding his line and defending his position" in quotes. That's being the dick who deserves to get ran off the track.

I'm not sure we are playing the same game as it sounds like you're playing Wreckfest rather than GT7.

I'd be really interested in seeing some replays of your races where these incidents keep happening. What you're experiencing in sport Mode is definitely not what I'm experiencing.
Did you not read the OP's post? That's exactly what is happening. My argument with the post is that he's blaming it on "better and privileged" racers. That's not the case in my experience. It's the slower and inexperienced racers causing most of the incidents in Sport mode. Maybe it's the time of day we play or the region we are in that makes a difference. Everyone is assuming I'm running people off the track. That's not the case at all.
 
What you originally said that everyone disagrees with you on.
If you have someone on your bumper for longer than that, and you are clearly slower, you deserve to be put in the dirt.
What you're saying now.
It's ok for someone to drive in the middle of the track, and run someone off the track if they are about to get passed?
Two very different things. Your original argument was only about slower drivers not getting out of the way.

Not one person has said its okay for a slower driver to run someone off the track who's trying to get past. Obviously.
 
Last edited:
So let me get this straight. It's ok for someone to drive in the middle of the track, and run someone off the track if they are about to get passed? That's why I put the "holding his line and defending his position" in quotes. That's being the dick who deserves to get ran off the track.
How does someone hold their line in the middle of the track and run someone off the track at the same time :confused:. I can only read what you've written. Maybe you're not explaining it properly because there's nothing wrong with someone holding their line, it's up to the car behind to overtake cleanly. They have no obligation to pull over because you've been behind them for a few corners.
 
What you originally said that everyone disagrees with you on.

What you're saying now.

Two very different things. Your original argument was only about slower drivers not getting out of the way.

Not one person has said its okay for a slower driver to run someone off the track who's trying to get past. Obviously.
It's the same thing, just not detailed enough in my original post. The quotes about "holding their line and defending their position" was meant to be sarcastic. That's the excuse people give when they are driving in the middle of the track and blocking people from passing. Those are the people that deserve to be punted off track. I stated that I drive behind them aggressively because going for the pass is useless. I get better results by letting them make a mistake because even if I get the pass, they just punt me off next corner. I stated that I give them a few corners before driving aggressively because I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they just nerfed a turn and are trying to recover.
How does someone hold their line in the middle of the track and run someone off the track at the same time :confused:. I can only read what you've written. Maybe you're not explaining it properly because there's nothing wrong with someone holding their line, it's up to the car behind to overtake cleanly. They have no obligation to pull over because you've been behind them for a few corners.
Read my reply above.
 
Last edited:
Regardless of who disagrees with me (which seems to be everybody), this post just reminds me of the daily videos posted in the GT7 Facebook group. People complaining about a dirty driver ruining their race, and the video shows the exact opposite. The faster driver takes the outside and is aware of the slower driver on the inside, but the slower "inexperienced" driver still tries to hit the apex and makes contact with the driver going for the pass, not leaving any room for the other car.
 
Generally, having good pace translates to having good racecraft. Being able to drive the car quickly on the edge should imply that one has the reflexes and experience to perform clean overtakes.

Those who have the pace but can't properly race wheel-to-wheel can't hang with top level competition. There's a good chance that they're the people that skip the line up of cars irl to merge into an exit lane at the last second :P
 
Assetto Corsa got it right at least in describing, no matter right or wrong, the driver involved in acident enough to be guilt, even if it wasn't his mistake. They are no better if they causing accident, but you know this happening, why not just be careful and leave a space for a hostile driver?

Public lobbies always be like that, and will never change, no matter how much anyone complain or writing letters:).
 
Back